SEMIA BAHALBATH (VERMICILLI IN CURD)

Bahalabath generally means curd rice. People normally make curd rice or curd sevai. Here i have made curd semia. It has a special taste & texture. I am sure you will all enjoy it.

Preparation Time: 10 mts Cooking Time: 20 mts Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Semia ( vermicelli ) - 100 gms

Milk - 1 cup

Curd - 1/2 cup

Coriander leaves - 1 tsp (chopped)

Green chilies - 1 no

Refined oil - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

Boil plenty of water in a pan. When it boils, add the semia & let it boil till it is soft. Remove it from fire & drain in a sieve. Wash it under running water & allow to drain. Let it cool for sometime. Then add salt, milk & curd & mix it all together. Heat oil in a pan & fry the mustard seeds & finely chopped green chilies. Pour it on top if the semia & mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Semia bahalabath is ready to eat.

Variations:

The only variation i can think of is substituting semia with rice or rice vermicelli (sevai).

Tips:

1. While boiling the semia, use plenty of water. Add a little oil in the water. This will make the semia non-sticky.
2. While making bahalabath always use more milk. It will be better if the milk & curd proportion is 3:1.
3. Always make sure that the semia cools down well before adding the milk. Otherwise it will absorb a lot of milk.
4. We can also add fruits like green grapes (seedless), raisins etc. We can fry some cashew nuts to add richness to the taste. We can also add some finely chopped cucumber & carrots to the bahalabath.

Taste it & enjoy.

KOTHUKADALAI PULAO (CHICKPEAS PULAO )

Black chickpeas or kothukadalai as it is known in Tamil, is a widely available pulse which is full of proteins. It is used in various different ways in South Indian cooking. This recipe was taught to me by my aunt who is an expert cook. Even though it is slightly time consuming, the taste is 'yummy'.

Preparation Time: 20 mts Cooking Time: 20 mts Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

Kothukadalai (black chickpeas ) - 1 cup

Raw rice / basmathi rice - 1 cup

Big onions - 3 nos

Biryani leaf (tej patha/ biriyani elai ) - 1

Cloves - 2 nos

Cinnamon - 1 inch piece

Black cardamom - 1 no

Refined oil - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

To grind into a paste:

Big onions - 2 nos

Garlic pods - 2 nos

Mint leaves (pudhina ) - 1 cup

Coriander leaves - 1 cup

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chili powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Grated coconut - 1 cup

Method:

Soak the kothukadali for 10 hrs. Pressure cook in a cooker with enough salt & keep it aside. Grind all the ingredients for masala in to a fine paste. Wash the rice, drain the water & keep it ready. Chop the onions in to fine pieces. Heat oil & ghee in a pan & fry the biriyani leaf, cloves, cinnamon & cardamom. Add the chopped onions & fry well. Then add the ground masala & fry well till the raw smell goes off. Add the rice & fry till all the water from the rice evaporates & it leaves the sides of the pan. Then add the boiled kothukadalai, salt & enough water. Cook it in a pressure cooker or a rice cooker. Kothukadalai pulao is ready. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves. This pulao will taste good with onion raitha.

Variations:

We can make this pulao with kabuli channa instead of black chick peas. We can skip the coconut while grinding the ingredients for the masala.

Tips:

1. We can make the kothukadalai masala separate & cook the rice separate & mix them all together. This will ensure that the pulao doesn't lump up.
2. Instead of grinding the coconut, we can use equal quantities of water & coconut milk. This will give a rich taste to the rice.

Taste it & enjoy.

CAPSICUM & CORN PULAO

Sundays are variety rice days in our house. So i try my hand on different type of rice dishes most of the Sundays. Today i had frozen corn & capsicum in the kitchen. So decided to try my hand on this dish.

Preparation Time: 15 mts Cooking Time: 20 mts Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 1 cup

Capsicum - 150 gms

Frozen sweet corn - 100 gms

Green chilies - 2 nos

Big onions - 2 nos

Cinnamon - 1 inch piece

Cloves - 2 nos

Black cardamon - 1 no

Tej patha (birinji elai ) - 1 no

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Refined oil - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

Wash the rice, drain it & keep aside. Chop the onions in to thin pieces. Cut the capsicum in to thin strips. Slit the green chilies. Heat the oil & the ghee in a frying pan. Add the cinnamon, cloves, cardamon & tej patha & fry them. Add the onions & chilies & fry them till the onion is pale in colour. Add the capsicum & corn & fry for some more time. Add the ginger garlic paste & fry till the raw smell goes off. Then add the rice & fry. The water from the rice should evaporate & it should start leaving the sides of the pan. Then add 1 1/2 cups of water & enough salt. Cook it in a cooker or a rice cooker. Capsicum & corn pulao is ready.

Variations:

The same type of pulao can be done with carrot, beans, peas, cauliflower etc.

Tips:

1. 
   
   
   Always make sure that the rice is just immersed in the water. That will be the right amount of water.
2. We can add some garam masala powder to the pulao to enhance the masala flavour.
3. As frozen corn is sweet, we can grind the chilies & add it while frying the onions. This will give some spice to the pulao.
4. Instead of water, we can make it a mix of either milk & water or coconut milk with water. This will give the pulao a rich taste.
   
   

Taste it & enjoy.

LIME RICE

Variety rice is always easy to make & easy to pack for a picnic. It doesn't spill out of the box & tastes good even when it is cold. Lime rice has the spice of chilies the tangy taste of the lemon in it. It tastes good with vadams or fryums.

Preparation Time: 10 mts Cooking Time: 20 mts Serves: 2-3




Ingredients:


Raw rice - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Bengal gram dal (kadalai paruppu) - 2 tsp
Refined oil - 2 tsp
Green chilies - 3 nos
Lime/lemon - 2 nos
Salt - to taste





Method:




Wash & cook the rice. Each grain of rice should be separate. Soak the Bengal gram dal ( kadalai paruppu) in little water. Cut the green chilies in to small pieces. In a pan heat the oil & fry the mustard seeds. Drain the Bengal gram dal & add that to the oil. Add the chilies too & fry them. Then add the turmeric powder & fry till the raw smell goes off. Switch off the heat & add the cooked rice & salt & mix well. Squeeze the juice of 2 lemons& add it to the rice & mix well. Lime rice is ready.



Variations:


We can add some grated carrot while frying the dal & other items. For those who like garam masala taste, we can add a little masala powder also.


Tips:

1. While adding lime juice, taste it & add as required.
2. Add the salt in the oil itself while frying the chilies. This way, the salt will spread evenly in the rice.
3. While cooking the rice add a little salt & cook, so that the rice will taste good.

Try it & enjoy.

JEERA RICE

Jeera or cumin seeds is a very important spice in Indian cuisine. It is known as jeerakam in Malayalam & Tamil. Jeera is another plant which is native to India. Our ancestors have realised the medicinal value of jeera long time back. Jeera helps in digestion. In Kerala water is boiled with little jeera in it & consumed as drinking water. Jeera is also rich in iron. Jeera rice is the most simple & delicious recipe one can make.

Preparation Time: 10 mts Cooking Time: 20 mts Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

Jeera - 1 tbsp

Green chilies - 3 nos

Basmathi rice - 1 cup

Ghee - 2 tsp

Refined oil - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

Wash the rice, drain it & keep it aside. Slit the green chilies. Heat the ghee & oil in a pan & fry the jeera & the green chilies. Then add the rice & fry till it is dry & leaves the pan. Pour 1 1/2 cups of water. Add the salt, cover the pan & cook in low heat. Cook it till each grain of rice is separate & well cooked. Jeera rice is ready. This will taste good with rajma masala.

Variations:

There is not much of a variation in this except that we can add some onions & spices like cinnamon, cloves & cardamom. But this might taste more like fried rice & not jeera rice.

Tips:

1. Different varieties of rice will need different amount of water. So the best way is to add just enough water to immerse the rice. This way it will cook in the right way.
   

Try it & enjoy.

COCONUT RICE (THENGAI SADAM)

Variety rice as these rice dishes are called, are very simple dishes to make. They make very good picnic dishes. They are good lunch box items. Coconut rice is one such rice dish. It can be had with potato chips or fryums. In my house, coconut rice is always accompanied by morkuzhambu because my husband loves this combination.




Preparation Time: 20 mts Cooking Time: 10 mts Serves: 2-3




Ingredients:


Raw rice - 1 cup
Coconut scrapings - 3/4 cup
Black gram dal (ulundu paruppu ) - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Refined oil - 2 tbsp
Red chilies - 3 nos
Green chilies - 3 nos
Curry leaves - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste




Method:



Cook the rice with a little salt. Each grain of rice should be separate. Soak the urud dal in a little water for 1/2 hr. Break the red chilies in to 2 pieces. Chop the green chilies in to small pieces. Drain the water & keep the urud dal ready. Heat the oil in a pan & fry the mustard seeds. Add the red chilies, green chilies, urud dal & curry leaves. Fry for some time. Then add the coconut scrapings & salt. Fry till oil comes out of the coconut. Don't brown it. Switch off the heat & add the cooked rice & mix it well. Coconut rice is ready to eat.


Tips:

1. We can use coconut oil instead of refined oil. This will blend with the rice & give an additional flavour.
2. Fry some cashew nuts in ghee & add it to the rice. This will enhance the taste of the rice.
3. Always soak the urud dal before making the rice. Frying without soaking will make the dal hard to bite.

Try it & enjoy.

PALAK PEAS PULAV

Yesterday i had invited a few people for lunch. I wanted to cook something interesting & new. Hence this recipe. As i had mentioned in my earlier recipe, spinach is full of anti oxidants, iron & omega 3 fatty acids. Green peas also has carbohydrates, proteins & fibres.


Preparation Time: 15 mts Cooking Time: 30 mts Serves: 2



Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 1 cup
Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece
Cloves - 2 nos
Black cardamom (bada elaichi) - 1 no
Big onion - 1 no
Green peas (frozen or fresh ) - 1/2 cup
Spinach (palak ) finely chopped- 3/4 cup
Refined oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste


To grind to a paste:

Green chillies - 3-4 nos
Fresh coriander leaves - a small bunch
Mint leaves (pudhina ) - 1/4 cup
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Garlic pods - 2-3 nos




Method:

Grind all the ingredients for the masala & keep it ready. Chop the onion & spinach into fine pieces. Wash the rice & drain the water. In a pan, heat the oil & add the cinnamon, cloves & cardamom. When they are fried, add the chopped onion & fry till it is pale in colour. Add the green peas & saute for sometime. Then add the ground paste & fry it in low heat till the oil separates. Add the spinach & saute till it becomes soft & tender. Add the rice & fry till all the water evaporates & the rice doesn't stick to the sides. Then Add 2 cups of water to it & pressure cook it. Alternately we can put it in the rice cooker & cook.

Variations:


We can make this rice with frozen sweet corn also. We can also add fresh beans to it.


Tips:

1. Use some spring onions instead of regular onions. This will add to the green colour of the pulav.
2. While cooking basmathi rice, always add just enough water to immerse the rice. This way the consistency of the pulav will be good.
3. Adding a little ghee along with the oil will enhance the flavour of the rice.
   

Try it & enjoy.

Quick Tomato Rice

Tomatoes have become an integral part in Indian cuisine. Most of the dishes have tomato as an important ingredient. Tomatoes can be used in place of tamarind in most dishes.

Preparation Time:10 mts Cooking Time:30 mts Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup

Big onion - 2 nos

Tomato - 3 nos

Sambar powder - 2 tsp

Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Refined oil - 2 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

Cook the rice with little salt. Each grain of rice should stand separate. In a pan, heat oil. Fry the cumin seeds. Add the onions & fry till they are brown. Then add the tomatoes & fry them. Add the salt, turmeric powder, sambar powder & fry till oil separates. Switch off the stove & add the cooked rice & mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves. Quick tomato rice is ready to eat.

Variations:

Add some fresh boiled peas along with the tomatoes & fry them. This will give the rice a nice colour. We can also use chili powder, cumin powder & coriander powder instead of sambar powder. We can also make it with basmathi rice instead of raw rice to give it a nice aroma. If fresh tomatoes are not available, we can use canned crushed or diced tomatoes instead.

Tips:

1. Adding 1 or 2 pods of garlic while frying the onions will give the rice a nice flavour.
2. Use 1/2 tsp. of ginger garlic paste to enhance the flavour.
3. Using tomato puree instead of tomatoes will give the rice a nice colour.
4. Put a small piece of cinnamon, 1 clove & a small bay leaf while cooking the raw rice. It will give the rice a mild masala flavour.
   

Try it & enjoy